The objective of the study was to investigate the water vapour sorption behaviour of thermally modified (TM) wood powder, e.g. ground wood prepared from waste streams of TM solid wood, and wood powder that was extracted in pressurised hot water. Solid spruce wood was TM in steam conditions (210°C for 3 h), milled and hot-water-extracted (HWE) at elevated pressure (140°C for 1 h). The results evidence that the hot-water extraction reduced the water sorption and the accessible hydroxyl group concentration by the removal of amorphous carbohydrates. In contrast, the enhanced cross-linking of the cell wall matrix and the annealing of amorphous matrix polymers during thermal modification reduced the sorption behaviour of wood additionally, without further reducing the hydroxyl accessibility. These additional effects of thermal modification were at least partially cancelled by hot-water extraction. The results bring novel insights into the mechanisms that reduce the water vapour sorption of wood by compositional and structural changes induced by heating.

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The overall aim of this work was to gain more insight on the potential of modified wood (TMW) components for use in wood-thermoplastic composites (WPCs). Laboratory-scale TMWPCs were produced, and the effects of severe water soaking-drying cycles on the samples were studied. Water sorption behavior and resulting dimensional and micromorphological changes were also studied, and the results were compared with those of unmodified wood-plastic composites (UWPCs) used as control. The TMW was prepared by cutting a spruce board into half and subjecting one-half to an atmosphere of superheated steam at atmospheric pressure with a peak temperature of 210°C, with the other unmodified wood (UW) half as a control. The TMW and UW components were then prepared by a Wiley mill and thereafter sifted into smaller (mesh 0.20-0.40 mm) and larger (mesh 0.40-0.63 mm) size fractions. A portion of the wood components were also subjected to hydrothermal extraction (HE). Composite samples with these different wood components, polypropylene (PP) matrix, and maleated PP (MAPP) as coupling agent (50/48/2 wood/PP/ MAPP ratio by weight) were then prepared by using a Brabender mixer followed by hot pressing. The matching micromorphology of the composites before and after the soaking-drying cycles was analyzed using a surface preparation technique based on ultraviolet-laser ablation combined with scanning electron microscopy. The results of the water absorption tests showed, as hypothesized, a significantly reduced water absorption and resulting thickness swelling at the end of a soaking cycle for the TMWPCs compared with the controls (UWPCs). The water absorption was reduced with about 50-70% for TMWPC and 60-75% for HE-TMWPC. The thickness swelling for TMWPCs was reduced with about 40-70% compared with the controls. Similarly, the WPCs with HE-UW components absorbed about 20-45% less moisture and showed a reduced thickness swelling of about 25-40% compared with the controls. These observations also were in agreement with the micromorphology analysis of the composites before and after the moisture cycling which showed a more pronounced wood-plastic interfacial cracking (de-bonding) as well as other microstructure changes in the controls compared with those prepared with TMW and HE-UW components. Based on these observations, it is suggested that these potential bio-based building materials show increased potential durability for applications in harsh outdoor environments, in particular TMWPCs with a well-defined and comparably small size fractions of TMW components.

The objective of this work is to study the water vapor sorption and surface energy properties of thermally modified wood (TMW) components, ie wood processing residuals in the form of sawdust. The thermal modification was performed on spruce wood components using a steam-pressurized laboratoryscale reactor at two different temperature (T ) and relative humidity (RH) conditions, T ¼ 150°C and RH ¼ 100% (TMW150), and T ¼ 180°C and RH ¼ 46% (TMW180). A dynamic vapor sorption (DVS) technique was used to determine water vapor sorption isotherms of the samples for three adsorption-desorption cycles at varying RH between 0% and 95%. Inverse gas chromatography (IGC) was used to study the surface energy properties of the samples, including dispersive and polar characteristics. The DVS results showed that the EMC was reduced by 30-50% for the TMW samples compared with control samples of unmodified wood (UW) components. A lower reduction was, however, observed for the second and third adsorption cycles compared with that of the first cycle. Ratios between EMC of TMW and that of UW samples were lower for the TMW180 compared with the TMW150 samples, and an overall decrease in such EMC ratios was observed at higher RH for both TMW samples. The IGC results showed that the dispersive contribution * Corresponding author † SWST member to the surface energy was higher at lower surface coverages, ie representing the higher energy sites, for the TMW compared with the UW samples. In addition, an analysis of the acid-base properties indicated a higher K B than K A number, ie a higher basic than acidic contribution to the surface energy, for all the samples. A higher K B number was also observed for the TMW compared with the UW samples, suggested to relate to the presence of ether bonds from increased lignin and/or extractives content at the surface. The K B was lower for TMW180 compared with TMW150, as a result of higher modification temperature of the first, leading to cleavage of these ether bonds.

The objective of this work was to study the hygroscopicity and surface chemical composition of thermally modified (TM) spruce. An effort was also made to study if those features were influenced by a previous exposure to a significant increase in relative humidity (RH). TM and unmodified Norway spruce (Picea abies Karst) samples, both in solid and ground form, were prepared. Water vapour sorption characteristics of the ground samples were obtained by measuring sorption isotherms using a dynamic vapour sorption (DVS). The surface chemical composition of the solid samples, both acetone extracted and non-extracted, were analysed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The DVS analysis indicated that the TM wood exposed to the 75% RH revealed a decrease in isotherm hysteresis. The XPS analysis indicated a decrease of acetone extractable or volatile organic components and a relative increase of non-extractable components for the samples exposed to the increased RH condition.